Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear)-a marketing executive at Mickey's Fast Food Restaurant chain, home of "The Big One"-has a problem. Contaminated meat is getting into the frozen patties of the company's best-selling burger. To find out why, he'll have to take a journey to the dark side of the All-American meal.Leaving the cushy confines of the company's Southern California boardroom for the immigrant-staffed slaughterhouses, teeming feedlots and cookie cutter strip malls of Middle America, what Don discovers is a "Fast Food Nation" of consumers who haven't realized it is they who are being consumed by an industry with a seemingly endless appetite for fresh meat.

The Recorded Picture Company production FAST FOOD NATION, a character study set in the fast food industry, is based on material from the book of the same name written by Eric Schlosser. Fast Food Nation, published in 2001 and a New York Times bestseller, was an incendiary nonfiction exploration of the industry.

FAST FOOD NATION is a Recorded Picture Company production directed by Richard Linklater and written by Eric Schlosser and Linklater. The film is produced by Jeremy Thomas and Malcolm McLaren. Co-producer is Ann Carli. The creative team includes Director of Photography Lee Daniel, Editor Sandra Adair, Production Designer Bruce Curtis and Costume Designer Kari Perkins. The film is financed by Jeremy Thomas' HanWay Films, Participant Productions and the BBC.

The film boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talancon and Wilmer Valderrama.